French Defense: Advance Variation, Milner-Barry Gambit, Hector Variation (7… Bd7 8. Re1)
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. O-O Bd7 8. Re1
The French Defense: Advance Variation, Milner-Barry Gambit, Hector Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C02, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. O-O Bd7 8. Re1. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 166 times by this move order. White won 47%, 8% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 8… Nge7 (41% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 8… Nge7 9. h4 Rc8 10. h5 h6 11. a3)
- ECO
- C02
- Moves
- 15 plies
- FEN
r3kbnr/pp1b1ppp/1qn1p3/3pP3/3p4/2PB1N2/PP3PPP/RNBQR1K1 b kq - 3 8- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. O-O Bd7 8. Re1
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 28 | |
| 2000+ | 137 | |
| All | 166 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8… Nge7 | 68 (41%) | |
| 8… Rc8 | 27 (16%) | |
| 8… dxc3 | 25 (15%) | |
| 8… a6 | 16 (10%) | |
| 8… Nh6 | 15 (9%) | |
| 8… h5 | 4 (2%) | |
| 8… h6 | 4 (2%) | |
| 8… Bc5 | 3 (2%) |
Master games
685 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 14%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2763) – GM Pavel Ponkratov (2659) 1-0 · FIDE Grand Swiss 2021 · 2021-11-01
- GM Gawain C B Maroroa Jones (2670) – GM Matthias Bluebaum (2670) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tuesday 29th Dec · 2020-12-29
- GM Sergei Zhigalko (2572) – GM So, W. (2752) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 5th Dec Early · 2023-12-05
- GM Sergei Zhigalko (2572) – GM Alexander Grischuk (2745) 1-0 · Titled Tue 28th Feb Late · 2023-02-28
- GM Nils Grandelius (2661) – GM Etienne Bacrot (2627) 1-0 · FIDE World Cup 2025 · 2025-11-06
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Drogono (2813) – white-arkangel (2618) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- smihir6 (2720) – Caminero85 (2704) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- HighQualityO (2705) – OnePysy (2676) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Advance Variation, Milner-Barry Gambit, Hector Variation (6… cxd4 7. O-O) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Bd3 cxd4 7. O-O
More French Defense lines (all)
- French Defense (1. e4 e6) C00
- French Defense (2. d4 d5) C00
- French Defense: Alapin Gambit C00
- French Defense: Baeuerle Gambit C00
- French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit C00
- French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit, Pinova Gambit C00
- French Defense: Bird Invitation C00
- French Defense: Carlson Gambit C00
- French Defense: Chigorin Variation C00
- French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit C00
- French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit Accepted C00
- French Defense: Franco-Hiva Gambit C00
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.